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Employment & Work Stories

News From KT where A federal judge ruled that a library's dress code that prevented a worker from wearing a necklace with a cross pendant was an unconstitutional violation of free-speech rights.

The employee, Kimberly Draper, was fired for refusing to take off the pendant, which she wore as an expression of her religious faith.

"It is simply beyond credibility that an employee's personal display of a cross pendant, a star of David, or some other minor, unobtrusive religious symbol on her person would interfere with the library's purpose,"

Hot jobs now from CNN says Challenger and Monster identified Librarians as "hot" because we are needed far beyond the school and public library systems. Corporations, government and advertising agencies, law firms, museums, research laboratories and medical centers are just a few of the arenas Challenger noted have need for those with library science degrees.

CNN asks Is your boss an idiot?
They say being the bright charge of a dim bulb often means suppressing the urge to say so many things, such as:"Okay, did you not get the memo that it's the 21st century?"
"Going where no man has gone before again, are we?"
and so on... Unfortunately, you have two choices: Get over it or get out.

David Dillard spotted some interesting articles on bigger, faster, costlier, more versatile technologies being installed in hotel guest rooms. Philly.com says hotel business centers may become less essential, and personal computer technicians - e-butlers - are beginning to appear on the scene. In Europe, e-butlers tend to be people with hospitality training and a keen interest in technology. In the United States, they're more likely people who work in the hotels' technology departments and double as computer guest-room gurus.
Other articles on this topic found on the internet include: ">Coffee, Tea or Ethernet, and several more you can find at The NetGold List.

Yet another good find from The Resource Shelf.Oregon Live Reports on the new director at Multnomah County Public. Molly Raphael will be making $138,000 a year -- a move that will make her the county's highest paid department director when she begins work in November.
By comparison, Raphael will make $33,000 more annually than her predecessor, Ginnie Cooper, and $25,000 more than the person running the Human Services department.

Raphael, now the top librarian in Washington, D.C., and earning $121,000 a year, also will make more than Portland's chief administrative officer, who oversees a budget nearly four times that of the library and has 100 more employees. Only Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker and four other county officials will make more than Raphael as top local government administrators.

Bonnie Cuevas can discuss the topic at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library if she doesn't disrupt work, according to a letter from the library's attorney.

The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the library after two supervisors told Cuevas on June 27 that she couldn't speak about a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws as unconstitutional.

After 4 1/2 years as a librarian for the New Bedford (MA) Public Library, Larry Kraszner is quitting his job in frustration over his ability to do "quality work." Instead of leaving quietly out the back door, Kraszner has made his exit interview public, blaming budget cuts and a lack of internal leadership for a decline in services and an "onerous" work environment. More here from the Standard Times (MA).

While this might not be the most savvy of career moves, I admire this guy's chutzpah and imagine he's got a bunch of folks cheering him on.

News From Kansas says a public library employee is challenging her employer's reprimand after she talked openly at work about gay rights following last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down anti-sodomy laws.
The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the library Wednesday, asking officials to reconsider their prohibition on Cuevas' ability to discuss the case, without the group resorting to legal action.

The USA Today Says the number of male librarians have increased from 12.4% in 1983 to 18.3%, or from 24,000 to 38,000.
There are more male legal assistants, too. Men held 15.3% of those jobs in 2000 but nearly 18% in 2002. The number of men selling apparel has swelled from 76,000 in 1983 to 87,000 in 2002, going from 16.8% to 22%. Male telephone operators have jumped from 9.4% to 14.2%. There have also been increases in male data-entry clerks, bank tellers, maids, dressmakers and early-childhood teachers.

Daniel Phelan and Sarahbellum noted a Story On a Librarian how had sued over SARS duty Hospital staffer was pressed into service screening visitors Claiming she lost her job after refusing to continue risky task.
Kellee Kaulback, who worked in the hospital's library for two years, said she was made to work as a SARS screener during the outbreak but received no training in how to fit her mask or properly take temperatures.
And you thought shelf reading was bad!